IK Multimedia ARC Review

Obitheincredible

Your Mom's Best Friend!!!
So I tried ARC after much speculation I tried it out and was impressed. Check out the review here.



When I first heard of IK Multimedia's ARC system I was really leery of it for the claims and what people like GIK Acoustics have taught us about acoustics. Well after I tried it I can't say it doesn't work! IK Multimedia's ARC system is based on Audyssey MultEQ technology. To make it simple it takes a complex EQ to flatten out any problem frequencies in your room. It comes with a professional measurement microphone to help measure the problematic frequencies in the room.

When I first got my order in the mail I installed the software and set up the mic. The way it works is you take the mic and test different parts of your room. You want to measure as many positions as possible in your room. Particularly around the listening area. After you take the measurements you name your profile and select a speaker icon for it, which is really useful if you have more than one set of speakers. After you finish setting up a profile you open your DAW and insert the ARC VST or RTAS on the master bus and select profile. That is it. Really simple, quick and easy to set up.

Now in my room I have some bass traps set up in all for corners as well as 4 against each wall. Without them I will say that I have some serious ringing issues and with them it helps even it out. At first I loaded up a track I had been working on the day before and heard a slight difference in the bass response. It seemed tighter and clearer. I will admit I was surprised. After that I tried some classics, first with "Rich Girl" Hall & Oates. There wasn't much low end here which is where most of my problems seemed to be but it did make the mids a bit clearer. For the second song I choose Jay-Z's "Venus Vs. Mars" which has a lot more low end than "Rich Girl". Again it tightened up the bass noticeably and made it clearer to listen to. Mids and highs were normal which surprised me a bit. I thought that it would still try and EQ them and make them sound weird but it sounded great.

It is really easy and straightforward in use. The manual does a excellent job of explaining any questions that may arise and also goes through step by step how to measure your room correctly. Some of the things I liked were how nice it looked. IK Multimedia has always done an awesome job with their GUI's and make them intuitive to use, ARC is no exception. With two charts showing both left and right speaker readings with the before, after and the target EQ curves and selectable speaker icons it is a great looking and sounding plug in.

IK Multimedia's ARC actually surprised me. It works if used correctly and can help out a bad sounding room and make it sound better than before. I will say this, it is not a replacement for acoustic treatment but used along with or even in situations where there is none and you can not set any up it can help make that situation better. It certainly helped make mine better!
 
I heard a little about this when I went to the IK Multimedia's t-racks presentation at the palms...interesting stuff !
 
I brought it back in march it really does tighten the bass.a friend of mine brought for his studio thats what got me to buy it. It really makes a difference to me.
 
Well personally I would go with ARC for the Ease of use factor and it can be tedious figuring out where and how much to eq out of your room.
 
Wow... I never heard of this before. That sounds incredibly useful... b/c it can be very very tough getting good acoustics, esp. as most of us have home setups. This seems well well worth the purchase... they could probably charge more (but don't tell them i said that lol).
 
I'd like to see how an ARC or ERGO system would match up against a $100 measurement mic and a $200 stereo graphic eq and free freq analysis software?
 
But at the same time ATC analysis and corrects. You would have to do that labor yourself. Which is damn near impossible with the amount of points you can measure with ARC compared to a mic, eq and analyzer software.
 
But at the same time ATC analysis and corrects. You would have to do that labor yourself. Which is damn near impossible with the amount of points you can measure with ARC compared to a mic, eq and analyzer software.

That's why I'd like to compare, to see if a system half the price could even remotely come close.
 
That's why I'd like to compare, to see if a system half the price could even remotely come close.


If comparing to the two possible methods mentioned I'm quite certain that ARC or ERGO would and will beat the graphic EQ approach. If for no other reason than for the higher resolution of filters capable of narrower bands that they would employ.

However I'm by no means a supporter of these types of products, but I do have a few questions that I'm hoping Obi might be able to answer.

First question is does ARC boost any part of the spectrum? Or is it all cutting? The reason I ask is because if it's doing even minor boosts you're cutting into the headroom of your amp. Doing so is going to mean that your speakers are going to start to distort and compress at the boosted frequencies sooner than at others. If we think about it, chances are that the individuals that are using this product (or others like it) probably don't have amps and speakers with all that much headroom to begin with.

The second question is does ARC treat each speaker with different "EQ curves"? If so, I'd be really worried for the same reasons as in my previous question but also I'd be worried about the potential impact on the stereo field in certain circumstances. Also you'd no longer be dealing with a matched pair of speakers.

I'm still more than skeptical, I know there are certain situation where complex FIR's and delay systems can be used to very effectively flatten out the response of a rooms low-end, but those bass management systems not only use multiple subwoofers positioned in ways to help reduce how they drive room modes and they are using a summed bass channel (mono).
 
If comparing to the two possible methods mentioned I'm quite certain that ARC or ERGO would and will beat the graphic EQ approach. If for no other reason than for the higher resolution of filters capable of narrower bands that they would employ.

However I'm by no means a supporter of these types of products, but I do have a few questions that I'm hoping Obi might be able to answer.

First question is does ARC boost any part of the spectrum? Or is it all cutting? The reason I ask is because if it's doing even minor boosts you're cutting into the headroom of your amp. Doing so is going to mean that your speakers are going to start to distort and compress at the boosted frequencies sooner than at others. If we think about it, chances are that the individuals that are using this product (or others like it) probably don't have amps and speakers with all that much headroom to begin with.

The second question is does ARC treat each speaker with different "EQ curves"? If so, I'd be really worried for the same reasons as in my previous question but also I'd be worried about the potential impact on the stereo field in certain circumstances. Also you'd no longer be dealing with a matched pair of speakers.

I'm still more than skeptical, I know there are certain situation where complex FIR's and delay systems can be used to very effectively flatten out the response of a rooms low-end, but those bass management systems not only use multiple subwoofers positioned in ways to help reduce how they drive room modes and they are using a summed bass channel (mono).
Yes that is where it gets tricky. You really have to watch how many measurements you take. The more the better. I had to test it 2 times. The first it was a bit weird but after I tried it again it was perfect. I had no peaks in it. I guess it depends on the location and how many measurements it takes for your room.


Now for the head room. That depends on the persons individual set up. Your chain is only as strong as your weakest link. I would like to think anybody going to spend that kind of money on software would have adequate amplification, monitoring AND acoustic treatment.
 
yeah obi this software for serious use shold be used with a decent recording chain... monitoring chain and a room that's has been treated.. it should be just another tool to get a better mix.. without having to try your mix on a thousand different setups... car, home stereo etc....
once you know how your monitoring chain along with this tool helps your mix.. then you can start to count on it ..more.. most ppl know hey my monitors give off way too much bass so it's best to keep the bass down a little.. so it translates onto other systems as the bass sitting pretty nice..this software should be used to give you other clues.. then you can start to add that knowledge to your mixes techniques.. and say hey ears...yeah the bass sounds good but we know it needs more or needs less for it to be a good mix...
 
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Is anyone using room analysis software to see how their monitors are behaving in it??????


Really helpful especially BEFORE you put up acoustic treatment. It turns into an all day affair putting shit up here and there taking readings till you get a decent reading for what you have to work with.

I think realtraps.com has one. I use fuzzmeasure for mac.
 
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